Chaos Reigns
by White Wolf Zita
Summary: A lot of weird stuff happens six years into the future. The Shen Gong Wu are mostly missing? Jack Spicer's just a normal nerd? Chase and Wuya have a SON? WHAT HAS THE WORLD COME TO? The Dragons struggle with all this insanity as they recover their Wu.
1. Prologue

PROLOGUE:

* * *

It was a chill night and the moon appeared bloody through a red haze of cloud. Dead, burned trees stood on an ashen plain, their limbs like stark black fingers raking at the crimson sky. A beast stood alone in the gray nothing, head high and wings spread. Many shadows rippled before it, straight-edged copies of itself with flexible forms, bending and flowing in the wind.

A growl sounded from their master, deep in his blood-hued throat. An impression appeared in their dim conscious of a power source, any object that held energy.  
_"Fetch this_."

* * *

Yep! Very short! Don't worry, there's a first chapter! It has weirdness and Jack in it!


	2. Chapter One

CHAPTER 1:

* * *

Sunrise slowly washed over the citadel of one Chase Young. The soft glow of dawn painted the clean white marble in shades of pink and orange-red, the sky a blazing amber. While most of the other inhabitants were still sleeping, a young boy was awake.  
He was a thin but muscular boy, with pale skin and rumpled blood-red hair that would have made him stand out in a crowd, not that his yellow eyes didn't already do the job. He was dressed in training armor, perching precariously on the edge of a roof top and gazing out at the sunrise. His freckled face was alive with anticipation. Today was Chaos's birthday, he had lived here for six years.

He couldn't contain himself any longer. The boy leapt with a practiced grace from the roof to the ground and set off at an alarmingly (for a boy his age) stealthy run across the dawn-dark grounds, heading for one room in particular. After only a few moments of quick navigation of the hallways, he leaned against the heavy wooden door, listening intently with slightly pointed ears. Chaos was reassured to only catch the sound of soft, slow breathing. He slowly turned the doorknob and crept in silence into the dark chamber.  
The boy's yellow eyes glowed eerily in the dark in a cat-like manner as he approached a large bed, the occupant of which seemed to be none the wiser. Chaos inhaled, filling his lungs with air in preparation, and-!

"If you roar, I will rip your throat out." The voice was flat, acidic, and cold. A second pair of glowing yellow eyes opened and a dark form was just discernable moving in the blackness. The lights came on low, and Chaos reluctantly let the extra air out of his lungs. Oh well, there went that.  
The man was already dressed. He got up and stood over Chaos, looking down at him with an unfathomable expression.  
"What is it?" His voice was impatient this morning, and Chaos knew that wasn't a good thing.  
"Hey Dad-"  
"_Master_," corrected his father.

"Yeah, that. It's my birthday, Dad!" Despite the sour look on Chase Young's face, his son's eyes were bright and full of excitement. Chase himself was not a morning person, and was just happy for the moment to have stopped young Chaos from roaring in his ear. Chaos was known to do that, though he usually saved it for a special occasion. Chase growled quietly and rubbed his eyes.  
"So how long has it been?"  
"Six years!" Chaos crowed proudly, standing up a little straighter.  
"In the future, Chaos, please wait until it is a decent hour of the day before telling me that. Leave my presence now." Chase Young, as you may have already guessed, was about as fatherly as an ice block.  
Chaos sighed. "Yes _Master_." And with nothing more the young boy sulked out of the room.

Chaos Young was an accident, an abomination, an impossibility. He should never have even existed. Chase Young still did not quite know what had impaired his judgement on that one night with Wuya, but here lay the evidence. Six years? It seemed like forever. The Lord of the Citadel shook his head tiredly.

* * *

"Where are our Shen Gong Wu!"  
"GAH!" Jack Spicer yelped as he was roughly shoved out of his bed and landed undignifiedly face-down on the floor. Ouch! What the heck!  
"Hey! Whoah! I'm calling the cops!" he shouted, scrambling to his feet.  
"We know you have 'em you slip'ry scoundrel, cough up!" There were four people standing around the small bedroom. All of them wore a very, very familiar red uniform. The words returned quickly to Jack. _Xiaolin Dragons_. That had been _six years ago._ What did they want now? Jack Spicer was no longer an evil boy genius, it was hard to claim to be a boy when you were really twenty. In fact, he didn't really get around to being very evil anymore. He was just a genius, an unemployed genius but the fact remained. What did they want with him? The fighting was long over, and they were too goodie goodie to come after the Monkey Staff...  
"I didn't do anything!" Jack protested, hands raised defensively.  
"Ah yes, but you have sung the same song many times before." Jack recognized the smaller man with the bald, round head despite the fact he had apparently gotten better at expressions. Omi. And the taller one with brown hair was Raimundo, and the cowboy was Clay, and the girl- Wait, where had Kimiko gone? He didn't have long to wonder, because she was returning to the room with a smirk on her face and the Monkey Staff in one slim hand. Jack had known that his hall closet wasn't exactly a good place to hide a Shen Gong Wu, but being that this was an apartment rather than the basement at his parents' house he hadn't had much choice.

"Hey! That's mine!" Jack protested immediately, lunging toward the door in a vain attempt to grab the Monkey Staff. He didn't make it far, Raimundo had a vice-like grip on his upper arm. Jack was pretty sure he was bruising already.  
"Only the Monkey Staff in the closet, he must've hidden them all over the place," Kimiko reported.  
"I didn't take your Shen Gong Wu already!" Jack snapped, starting to lose patience, "I don't even care anymore, I gave up on all that stuff when you guys won the last Showdown!" He scowled at them all.  
"Prove it," snarled Rai, shoving him against a wall and effectively knocking the wind out of him.  
"Perhaps Jack is telling the truth?" Omi wondered aloud, though his voice was filled with doubt. Jack nodded enthusiastically.  
"Yeah, you guys know I never stand up to questioning!" The four dragons exchanged skeptical glances.  
"Okay then, if you don' got 'em, who does?" asked Clay. Jack shrugged.  
"Um, I dunno, Wuya? Chase? Somebody besides me?"  
"And how do we know you're not just lying again?" asked Raimundo. Jack sighed. This was going to be a long day.

* * *

Okay, umm, yeah. Stuff happened! Whee!

R&R! Another chapter's on its way!


	3. Chapter Two

Wow I feel like an idiot! I apologize to everybody out there who wanted to review but couldn't! I didn't know I had the anonymous reviews blocked. (beats self on head) Me feel stoopid. oo

Anyhow, everybody pleace accept my deepest thanks for reading this! Enjoy this chapter!

* * *

CHAPTER TWO: 

Chase Young and the Xiaolin Dragons did not often cross paths anymore. Each typically kept to their own business, except for whenever Chase tried something big and the dragons had to step in. They had saved the world only twice in the last six years, and were mostly just happy to not have to worry much about their old enemy anymore. But that was going to change. The four dragons and their "prisoner" were flying in the Silver Manta Ray, headed directly for the citadel.

"So why aren't we flying on that dragon?" asked Jack.

"Dojo's on vacation," said Clay shortly.

Uncomfortable silence settled again. It wasn't like they'd all been friends before, but even this seemed a bit strange. Jack had changed almost beyond recognition, trading in a black trench-coat for a polo shirt and pocket protector. He was still thin and pale as ever but, aside from the black tattoos under his eyes, you would never have guessed that this guy was the Jack Spicer they'd known before.

To Jack, the others didn't seem to have changed very much. They'd grown up, sure, but that was about it. Raimundo was still quick to jump to conclusions, Clay was still a cowboy, Omi was still short and bald, and Kimiko was still pretty. Well, more "drop-dead gorgeous" but Jack tried not to think about it in those terms, she was definitely off limits and lightyears out of his league.

The silence grew increasingly heavy as they flew, but nobody could think of a good way to break it. So that was how they came to arrive at the citadel of Chase Young.

* * *

Chaos was among the first to notice that strangers were standing outside the main gate. He didn't actually _see _them, but he immediately knew that something was up by the sudden alertness of the cat guards. Chaos grinned to himself as a lion bounded off toward the inner sanctum to fetch his father, but the grin was quick to vanish. Strangers were here, he had to get out of sight.

The boy looked around, quickly, chewing his lower lip. A large ornamental vase caught his eye. It'd do for now. Chaos climbed awkwardly into it, managing not to knock it over in his haste. There, he was out of sight. The vase was big enough to give Chaos room to sit, albeit uncomfortably, in the bottom and peer out a hole where a handle had once been connected. Chaos chuckled lightly to himself, remembering that _he_ was the reason the handle was gone.

There was the usual rumbling _crash_ of the stone flinging itself out of the way, and five figures stood silhouetted in the doorway. Chaos was not at a particularly good angle, yellow eyes narrowed against the oncoming sunlight. And here came his father, standing tall and dignified on one of the upper terraces. Chaos looked at him briefly not as his irritable father, but as anyone else would see him. A shiver of respect ran up and down the boy's spine.

"What do you want?" Chase sounded mildly amused.

"You know what we want, yeh filthy liar!" It was a voice Chaos had not heard before. He shifted a little in his hiding place and managed to make out the frame of a big man wearing a strange hat. Chaos instantly decided he didn't like this stranger, _nobody_ talked to his father like that. Not if they wanted to live, anyway. Chaos had only a vague understanding that there were people who challenged his father. He had never seen any of them before.

"Actually, I don't. Would you all care to tell me what you're doing here this early in the morning?" Chase was very calm and patient, but that was just the way he always seemed.

"We want our Shen Gong Wu!" snarled a second stranger defiantly. He wasn't quite as tall as the first and he had messy brown hair. Chaos didn't think about that much, he was too busy wondering what a Shen Gong Wu was. The word was oddly familiar, yet he had no idea where he might have heard it before.

Chase sighed. "And what is it that makes you so certain that I have them?"

"Him." The second man shoved another forward. The new figure had pale skin and red hair as well as two black marks under his eyes. Chaos smiled, he knew this one. He had been extremely young at the time, only two or three maybe, but the boy had seen Jack Spicer before. He hadn't really known him, but Chaos dimly remembered a timid boy dressed in dark clothes.

"Hiya Chase! Long time no see!" Jack said, waving pitifully as he was suspended at the shoulders by the strangers. His voice was even higher than usual with fear.

"You will take the word of this blithering fool over my own?"

"Yes, for you have proven to be most sneaky." And here was a third man, only a little taller than Chaos, speaking.

"And what do you propose I would do with Shen Gong Wu?"

"Something evil, of course," suggested the last stranger boredly, this time a woman.

"Yeah, and if you don't have 'em then Wuya does!" That was the brown-haired man. At a glance from Chase, the black leopard slunk off into the shadows of the citadel, Chaos knew that his father was sending for his mother.

"If you recall, I have never wanted anything to do with your Shen Gong Wu. I can also assure you that Wuya has not left this citadel any time recently, but if you must question her for yourselves then I will not stop you."

Chaos watched as his mother emerged from the citadel in the wake of the leopard. She was quite annoyed about it, and much arguing went on among the adults for a few minutes. Chaos quickly lost track of what was going on and his short attention span failed, though he did notice that strange "Shen Gong Wu" word popping up a lot, and that he didn't like these strangers. He wondered why Jack was with them, they didn't seem to like him very much.

As his mind wandered, it became increasingly obvious to the boy that his legs were cramping up. The space inside the vase was smaller than he'd first thought. But he gritted his teeth and continued to vaguely observe what was going on outside to try to keep his mind off of it. He couldn't move until these people left.

It seemed to take months, all the while Chaos's legs screamed from the strain of the funny crouch he had to maintain. At last the strangers grudgingly turned to leave. His father and mother both took separate routes back into opposite wings of the fortress, and Chaos could climb out of the vase. He almost fell to the ground in relief, but didn't make a sound. The door was still open. That was weird.

Chaos was a curious boy, and the open door drew him like a moth to a flame. He had never really seen the outside world before, and so he tentatively crept outside, hugging the shadows. The strangers were all piling on board a strange _thing_ that Chaos knew no word for. Machine, maybe? It seemed almost alive... But never-the-less, curiosity got the better of him. Chaos didn't know what was up with these strangers, but doubtless they did not like his father. So Chaos formed a fabulous plan. He was going to follow these strangers and spy on them, then he could tell Chase what they were planning! Oh how his parents would be proud!

* * *

"Okay, so if Chase and Wuya don't have them, and Jack doesn't have them, who _does_?" Kimiko voiced everyone's question. 

"I don't know. Maybe Katnappe or somebody?" suggested Clay. There were general mutters of agreement from everybody else. The problem was, nobody knew what had become of their old enemies. It also didn't fit that this person, whoever they were, had only ripped off the Wu from the temple. Anyone that the dragons or Jack had met would have known that Jack too still had the Monkey Staff, and yet they hadn't come after it. And come to think of it, why hadn't the thief taken the Silver Mantaray? None of this fit together.

"Okay, let's just say it's somebody we don't know. Theoretically. How do we find Shen Gong Wu?" Everyone looked at Jack for a moment, not expecting him to take charge. Jack just shrugged modestly, he was good at thinking in these terms.

"Dojo could trace the energy patterns of the active Shen Gong Wu, but we do not have Dojo now," Omi sighed. Everyone thought furiously for a moment.

"Hey, didn't you have a Shen Gong Wu locator, Jack?" said Raimundo suddenly. Jack jumped, rather embarassed that the thought hadn't come to him first.

"Oh, yeah! I did!"

"Whaddya mean you _did_?" asked Clay, narrowing his eyes. Jack sighed.

"It kinda got, well, _thrown away_ when I moved in here so..."

"So we're sunk unless you can build another one. Great." Kimiko rolled her eyes.

"I could, if I had the right supplies," Jack said.

Raimundo gave him a skeptical look. "And exactly how long would that take?"

"A couple of weeks." The four dragons groaned.

"You could ask my mother! Oops!"

Everybody in the mantaray jumped at the sudden light voice. It had come from the back, behind the rear seats. Clay and Raimundo instantly reached back and together pulled out a little boy with blood red hair and yellow eyes.

Jack stared for a moment. "Chaos!"

"Hey! Let go of me! I'll tell my father, and you'll be sorry!" the boy snarled, struggling futilely against the dragons of wind and earth.

"Wait, you know him!" Kimiko glanced sharply at Jack.

"Um, yeah, why?"

"Who is he!" But Jack was spared the trouble of answering by the boy himself. He finally stopped thrashing and settled reluctantly in the last seat in the mantaray.

"I'm Chaos," he responded with a sulky glare at all of them.

"He's Chase's kid," explained Jack. The stunned silence was deafening.

* * *

Whee, Chaos is fun to write! This story's growing on me! Please read and review, I appreciate it! 


	4. Chapter Three

Hiya all! I'd like to thank my ONE reviewer so far, THANKYOU EILEEN! (gives you a cookie)  
I really must apologize for the shortness of this chapter, but never fear! I'm posting two at once!  
Now, ON WITH THE FIC!

* * *

CHAPTER THREE: 

"Chase Young is your father?" the strange bald man asked Chaos over the back of his seat, not unkindly. The boy glared up at him.

"I'm not supposed to talk to strangers!" he growled. Chaos kicked the back of the seat and the little man scowled.

"I've seen him before, he's Chase and Wuya's kid," Jack said again. Raimundo winced.

"Thanks for that very disturbing image, Jack."

"So what's he doing here?" asked Kimiko. She wanted to turn around and get a good look at the kid, but she was flying the mantaray.

"Hey! Don't talk about me like I'm not here!" Chaos whined, still being restrained by Clay and Rai.

"Let me talk to him," whispered Jack. The four dragons nodded slightly to keep Chaos from catching on. They didn't seem to be having much effect anyway.

"So, Chaos, what's up?" he asked. Chaos smiled slightly and raised and lowered one shoulder, far more open with a familiar face.

"Oh, not much. Today's my birthday though!" It was as if nobody else was there.

"That's great! How old are you now?"

"Six! Hey, Jack, who are these guys? Why don't they like you and me?" Chaos may have been a six-year-old, but he was a _smart_ six-year-old. Jack sighed. It had been just starting to work...

"These guys are the Xiaolin Dragons, Chaos. We... kinda used to fight a lot." He shrugged. Chaos nodded then.

"Oh, yeah. I've heard of you guys. My fath-I-mean-_master_ doesn't like you. Neither does Mother for that matter..." Chaos furrowed his brows and thought about that for a minute. He would have liked to rest his chin on one hand, but his arms were restrained.

"So, Chaos, how did you come to be stowing here-?"

"Stowing away," Raimundo corrected.

"-Yes, that." Omi went on without pause, "How did you come to be stowing away on our Shen Gong Wu?" Chaos looked down at his feet.

"What's a Shen Gong Wu?" The second stunned silence in a very short time settled over the mantaray.

* * *

The shadows rollicked and pranced about their lord, like hounds scenting blood and eager for the hunt. They were stronger in the fresh daylight, feeding off of it. Their hides grew blacker with the sun, red eyes glowing brighter, their forms sharper and more defined. All of them formed after the Master, all of them the same. Broad wings, thick scales, sharp claws. They were the first beings to take the form of a western dragon in several hundred years. 

The King roared, crimson jaws open to the sky as if he would devour it. The shadows danced away, ringing him in their places. Each bore something in its mouth. The items they held varied from batteries to vials of chemicals that were so delicately carried in their fanged mouths. A fair number also bore strange objects that seemed of little significance. A length of rope that looked like a snake, a pure blue sphere, a stiff shirt of metal, and a sword with an ornate handle and wide brass blade were among these oddities. These shadows sat nearest their Master, for they had brought the best prizes.

"My servants!" declared the dragon King, gazing about with eyes sharp and cold as ice, "Thou art my greatest children! Thy eyes bright, thy scales hard, and thy claws sharp!" The shadows remained silent, despite his pause. The King often did this, taking time to imagine a response. "And thy hearts-! Hell below, mine lips betray me! Ye have no hearts!" At this, the shadows rattled their wings and scales, hissing a chilling affirmative.

"Canst thou remind thy King of thy mission?"

"Whee ssseekh the powherrr!" a thousand voices rasped.

"Then seek on, my children!" The dragon roared above them.

"YEEHHHSSS, LHHORRD ISHKARR!" the shadows hissed. They faded instantly, dropping the energy sources. The dragon's lips curled away from his cruel white fangs in a snarl of delight. Ishkarr the Red had returned.

* * *

I told you it was short! Now I'll go post chapter four!  
Please review? 


	5. Chapter Four

CHAPTER FOUR IS IN THE HOUSE! Party!  
Okay, I've actually got this written up to chapter eight now, but I'm kinda cramped for time to upload. I'm doing the best I can though! Well, enough of me! ON WITH THE FIC!

* * *

CHAPTER FOUR:

Chase Young was troubled, and that was a thing to be worried about. He was not only powerful of body, but also mind. Only rarely did anything come up that he had not planned for, and the consequences of whatever that was usually proved dire.

There was something gnawing away in the back of his mind, but he couldn't put a finger on it. It was a raw instinct that something was wrong. So Chase was trying to meditate on it, rather annoyed by the interruption of the dragons but nothing more. Probably his trouble was something trivial, something he'd forgotten to order someone to do, maybe?

Sitting in the meditation chamber, he forced himself into calmness. It was easy, so many years he'd had to practice. It was pinning down a single thought that was hard. Not stemming the flow of input from the senses, and not avoiding letting the mind wander. Simply wrestling that slippery little instinct into a sensible form could become the work of long hours without food and sleep.

That did not, however, make him unaware of the physical world.

"What do you want, Shadow-Thief?" Both narrow yellow eyes flicked open and he was on his feet. The tiger bowed low before his master, great chin touching the tiles.

_I apologize, Master Chase, for my intrusion-_

"Skip the formalities, Shadow-Thief, I am busy." The tiger's yellow eyes rolled up uncomfortably to look at his master, but flicked to the floor again.

_The Boy, my Lord. Chaos Child. We fear he has gone missing._

Chase sighed resignedly. It was bad news of course, but more irritating than worrisome. "Find him, Shadow-Thief. Tell Half-Fang to organize a search if you really must. I do not care how it must be done, but I want either to have him here or know where he is before sunset. Am I understood?"

Shadow-Thief nodded quickly. _Yes Master, your will be done._ And with that he was gone.

* * *

Half-Fang was the oldest cat to still serve in battle. Old, yes, but he was still death on four feet. The panther was sharp as a bear trap and as ill-tempered as the bear caught in it.

Shadow-Thief approached his superior with apprehension. No one ever liked talking to Half-Fang.

_What is it? _growled the panther through famously broken teeth when he saw the tiger coming. Shadow-Thief gulped despite himself.

_The Master commands you, Half-Fang, to organize a search for The Boy,_ the Tiger explained.

Half-Fang drew his lips back in an irritated snarl, but climbed to his feet. _The Boy? Hrmph, worthless scrap of hide he is. But I do as the Master wills._ The panther stalked off to find the right cats for the job. Shadow-Thief sighed when he was gone, relieved that the meeting had been so brief.

* * *

"So, what're we gonna do now?" asked Chaos, looking around the mantaray expectantly. It had taken a few minutes to bring him up to speed on Shen Gong Wu and all, but he was surprisingly quick to figure it all out. He got to the heart of things early on, and in fact had cut off the explanation half way through. This definitely was not a normal kid.

"Well, _you _are going home," said Raimundo. It was the wrong thing to say.

"No! I'm following you, and then I can tell my father what you're up to, and then he'll _have _to be proud of me!" Chaos was suddenly adamant and emotional, eyes blazing with some inner fire.

"Well, most spies don't reveal their entire plan before they've done it," said Jack. Chaos glared and pouted, crossing his arms. Clay and Rai had let go of him due to his failure to try escaping.

"I'm watching you guys..." he grumbled, looking out the window.

"And we will be watching you," said Omi. Chaos leered at him through his blood red bangs, but averted his gaze again. Even that brief little glare made a tiny, involuntary shiver run through Omi. Those were Chase's eyes, cold and reptilian and calculating, set into the face of a child. It was more than a bit disturbing.

"Okay, look. We're just wasting time with this. We're supposed to be worrying about finding the Shen Gong Wu, right?" Kimiko said, firmly re-railing the train of thought.

"Yeah. The thing I cain't figure out is who could've done it," said Clay. There were a few general mutters from everybody else.

"Perhaps Chase lied," sighed Omi.

"And I wouldn't put it past Wuya," added Jack.

"No! My parents don't lie!" Chaos protested. He would have risen to his feet, but they were in a moving vehicle. In fact, under better circumstances, Chaos would be asking a million questions about how the Silver Mantaray worked, where they were going, and most importantly of all "Are we there yet?", but he was too busy feeling idignant on his parents' behalf for that.

Raimundo had had enough. He leaned over Chaos imposingly, narrowing his dark green eyes and glaring down into the boy's face. Chaos met the dragon's gaze with his own savage yellow one. You could almost feel the tension in the air.

"Okay, little dude, you'd better listen. Do you know who these people are? Do you know what they've done, the things they've destroyed? Kid, do you know how many people your parents have _killed?"_ Raimundo snarled. Chaos didn't flinch.

"Why should I listen to you, _Xiaolin_?" he challenged. A disturbingly familiar edge entered Chaos's voice, a low and icy note that was so close to being his father's it was unsettling. All was deathly quiet for a few seconds.

"Okay guys, chill. We're here." Kimiko finally ended what may have been the glaring match of the century as they touched down at the Xiaolin Temple.

* * *

Yarr, so ends chapter four! Please read and review! (You know I always ask that!)

-Zita


	6. Chapter Five

Zita: (passes out fish for readers to beat her with) Sorry! Last year was a very... bad time for me to do things on the internet. Recently, however, I have gotten my own connection back. I am currently working on another project on DeviantART that takes up most of my writing time, but I promise you I will finish this once I'm done with it. In the meantime, I discovered several chapters I hadn't posted. I hope you enjoy them. Now go ahead and hit me like you mean it! (takes her well-deserved beating for abandoning you guys)

* * *

CHAPTER FIVE:

"We can't even find footprints in here, and that's saying something." Kimiko led the way down into the Shen Gong Wu vault. Chaos followed sulkily between Omi and Clay, placed there to make sure he didn't try anything funny. He was a six-year old kid, but there was something that was just _dangerous_ about him. Besides, he was the son of their worst enemy. No sense taking risks.

"Wow, I would've loved to know whoever did this years ago!" said Jack, looking around. He gave an appreciative whistle and listened to the echo of it in the near-empty vault, the note bouncing down to the distant floor like the bottom of a well. Almost all of the drawers lay open and bare, save for a few Shen Gong Wu that appeared to have been left at random. The Silver Mantaray had been among them, of course.

"Oh I bet you would have," said Kimiko, rolling her eyes.

Despite his sulking, Chaos' curiosity and sarcasm got the better of him. He wrinkled his nose.

"You leave power-items in a place like _this_?"

"Hey, shut up! We've got all kinds of protections on this place!" said Raimundo indignantly.

"What protections? It's as easy getting in here as taking candy from a baby!" Jack snorted, then wished he hadn't said anything. The dragons glared at him firmly, and he decided from now on he would try to avoid mentioning the past.

"Well then, Jack Spicer, I believe you have not attempted to steal our Shen Gong Wu in several years?" said Omi. Jack nodded.

"Right, I gave up on that."

"Then you would not know about the new protections," Omi concluded. Jack eyed the walls with suspicion now, as if expecting a booby trap to spring on him at any second. Clay laughed.

"Don' worry 'bout it, pardner! S'long as we're in here, nothin's gonna hurt ya!"

"Oh, I'm _so_ reassured," muttered Jack. He looked around a little more and again noticed some of the vault drawers were still shut. "Hey, some of the Wu are still here? Why wouldn't they take all of them?"

"That's exactly the thing we can't figure out." Kimiko sighed, "Either we're dealing with an idiot, which I doubt, or they had a reason for only taking that many."

"The protections. How are they triggered?" asked Chaos suddenly.

"Why should we tell you? I bet your _parents_ would love to know," said Raimundo. Chaos growled and bared his teeth in a very inhuman fashion for a second before regaining self control. Rai didn't even blink.

"Why do you want to know?" asked Omi, equally suspicious. Chaos forgot about Rai for a moment and looked at him.

"We-ell, if it only detects a solid intruder, what about things that aren't solid? I dunno, ghosts or something? They wouldn't leave footprints..." Chaos realized it sounded much dumber out loud than it had in his head.

"Ghosts. Right. And according to him _we're_ stupid." Raimundo rolled his eyes. Without warning, Chaos kicked him in the shin. Despite being instantly pinned against the vault wall by Clay and Omi, the boy laughed. Raimundo suppressed with some difficulty his desire to punch the smirk off the little abomination's face.

"Alright, anybody got a better theory?" Chaos sneered.

"Wait, what's this?" Jack had wandered down a few steps from where he'd been standing, and discovered that he'd stepped on something that made a crunching noise. He leaned on the wall and examined the bottom of his right foot to discover something black.

"What's what?" asked Kimiko, looking down at the tread of his sneaker as well. There it was. There was some kind of shiny black material in little crushed flakes on Jack's foot. Jack moved carefully off the crunching step and everyone crowded in to stare at it, whatever it was. It looked more than anything like a bunch of small black scales, each about the size of someone's fingernail.

"Okay, what leaves crunchy black scales on the floor?" asked Jack. Omi crouched down to look more closely.

"Oh, this is something I have never seen before!" His eyes widened.

"It's too dark in here to really see anythin', we should move 'em out into the light," suggested Clay.

"Good idea," nodded Kimiko. She reached down to scoop up some of the strange black scales.

"Wait! I'll do it!" Jack stopped her suddenly, brushing them off the step into his hand before she could protest. He stood up straight again, but avoided everyone's eyes.

"I mean, I found it in the first place," he said quickly. Kimiko just raised an eyebrow.

"Whatever. Let's got take a better look." Jack managed not to sigh with relief. He would rather die than say he was worried that those things would hurt Kimiko.

The group trooped up and out of the vault, then left it for the sunlight to see the scales better. It didn't help much, they were still just small black almond shapes, slightly iridescent. Whatever they were, they weren't natural.

"There is still very little that we can tell about them," said Omi.

"Let's go tell Master Fung," decided Kimiko.

* * *

_  
Old Half-Butt's not had this much fun in years_, remarked Raven-Claw in an almost silent mutter out of the corner of her mouth, tail tossing irritably. Shadow-Theif gave a microscopic nod and sigh. 

_I know. I think that's why The Master put him in charge,_ the tiger replied with equal stealth. He and the panther were together one of the search parties. Shadow and Raven often had to work side by side and made a fair team, but going out and hunting down Chaos was a daunting job. Half-Fang was in his element though, prowling back and forth in front of a whole line of citadel guards and barking orders like a drill sergeant. No one was better at it than the old cat.

_And I'll have your hide if you're not back by sunset! Is that clear, you fleabags?_ Half-Fang shouted.

_Yes, Half-Fang!_ chorused the ten cats with far more enthusiasm than they felt.

_THEN GET MOVING!_ the panther roared. The ten jumped into the air at once, taking the form of a flock of crows.

_Which way, Raven?_ asked Shadow-Theif idly as he and his partner split off.

_Why don't you pick? You do have a brain I suppose,_ she answered sarcastically. Shadow-Theif glared at her, but it was all in jest.

_Think about it. The Boy hasn't been found anywhere near the citadel, no trace at all. The Dragons were just here today, and they had to have some means of transportation. Two and two make...?_ The tiger-turned-crow was back on the job again.

_Seven!_ laughed Raven-Claw, but she became serious as well. _I was wondering the same. I don't know what that damned child thinks, he may have followed them._

_He gets bored, you know. Not allowed out and all. I forget what it's like to be that age._

_Everyone does, Shadow. Everyone does._

* * *

Yes. You may review and screech at me now. I'll get what I have up, then you'll have to wait until I'm done with Outpost Delta. I promise. 


	7. Chapter Six

CHAPTER SIX:

"This, young monks, does not bode well." The expression on Master Fung's face was grave as he examined the small black scales in Jack's palm. "Scales like these have not been seen in a very long time."

"But you know what they are, right?" asked Raimundo.

"These scales, Raimundo, are made of shadows."

"Wait, how can something be made of shadows?" asked Jack, and judging by everybody else's expressions he wasn't the only one who was woefully confused. Omi, however, furrowed his brows in thought.

"This is something I have read of. Black magicians can bind darkness into solid forms and send them to do their bidding," he said slowly.

"Correct, Omi, and I fear that is what we are dealing with here. Unfortunately, we are ill-prepared to deal with a black magician," said Master Fung, a tired edge entering his voice.

"Aren't you guys supposed to be prepared for everything?" Chaos piped up. Master Fung looked at him, one eyebrow raised in a slightly mocking manner.

"The black magics are from the west, we have not dealt with them for several centuries." Chaos looked back at him, but didn't say anything more despite the strong urge to ask what that had to do with anything.

"The western temple!" said Omi suddenly, eyes widening with sudden understanding.

"Wait, _what?!_" Kimiko looked back and forth between Master Fung and Omi. Omi looked pleased with himself and grinned broadly.

"The temple in Europe! Do you not see? There is more than one Xiaolin temple, and the one that is in the west will have more information on problems that belong in the west!" he explained. The other three dragons and Jack stared at him. More than one temple? This did not compute. Chaos, in the meantime, was losing what little patience he had.

"Alright, so can we just go there and ask them what to do and get rid of this magician guy?" Chaos yawned.

"So now you want to help us?" asked Raimundo. Chaos shook his head.

"No, I'm just bored."

"Heh, at least he's honest," Jack smirked. Chaos stomped on his foot, and Jack yelped indignantly and jumped away from him. He scowled at Chaos, but the boy just laughed and stuck out his tongue.

"You're mean..." Jack whimpered. Chaos just laughed again. Master Fung cleared his throat loudly and everyone looked at him again.

"We should go immediately. The sooner I may speak to Master Sarkoth, the sooner we can prevent the magician from gaining more power," he said urgently.

"Wait a minute, we kin only fit five people in the Silver Mantaray, an' there's six of us here," said Clay.

"We will not be bringing our _guests_," Master Fung eyed Jack and Chaos meaningfully, "And one of you will be remaining here to keep them under control." There were instantly four assorted child-like protests. Nobody wanted to be a baby-sitter. Master Fung calmly raised one hand and the dragons, with some resentment, quieted.

"Draw straws now, if you have no further objections." Master Fung extended his other hand, which held four seemingly identical sticks. Raimundo drew first, a wary expression on his face.

"Oh yeah!" The dragon of wind punched one fist into the air triumphantly as he saw he'd drawn a long one. Omi was next, and did the same. Then it was Kimiko's turn. She held her breath for a moment and drew one of the sticks.

"Short," observed Chaos flatly. Kimiko flinched.

"How fitting, is it not a woman's job to watch after babies?" Omi smiled. Kimiko looked at him carefully for a moment, then kicked Omi's feet out from under him.

"Hey! That was not telephoned!" the smaller monk yelled indignantly, climbing back up to his feet. Kimiko stalked off to the other end of the courtyard, apparently with the intent of not talking to anybody.

"It's "called for", Omi," said Raimundo, watching Kimiko go with a slightly concerned look on his face.

"Yes. Let us be on our way." Omi decided to drop it rather than risk Kimiko kicking him again, and the west-bound group climbed aboard the Silver Mantaray. All was quiet for a few minutes after they left. Finally, Chaos decided to do something about that. Casting a curious glance around the temple grounds, he looked over at Jack.

"So, what're we gonna do now?" he asked.

Kimiko, in the meantime, was mad. Just her luck to get stuck at the temple playing baby sitter for these two losers while everybody else was going to Europe. It. Was. Not. Fair. But then again, she couldn't leave those two alone. She wasn't too worried about Jack, but Chaos seemed like the type of kid who could topple a small building if he put his mind to it. Kimiko was experienced in that department, she once had to babysit her little cousin.

She let herself fume in the silence between two sheds for a few minutes, then turned back and headed around to the front of the temple again. Jack was sitting on the front steps, looking rather bored. Chaos, however, was climbing up onto the roof.

"Hey, get down from there!" she yelled. Chaos looked over one shoulder quizzically as he scrambled up onto the blue tiles. A broad grin spread across his face, and he stuck out his tongue and blew a raspberry.

"Make me!" he shouted. This, Kimiko decided, was not going to go well.

"I told him not to do it," said Jack as if remarking on the weather, looking up at Chaos.

"Well, he did it anyway," Kimiko replied sharply. Jack sighed.

"Look, maybe he'll listen to me if I try again?"

"Why would he listen to you any better than he listens to me?" Kimiko raised an eyebrow.

"He knows me. Sort of." Kimiko took a step back and smirked.

"Fine, he's all yours." Jack nodded and stood up.

"Hey Chaos, why're you up there?" Chaos peered over the edge of the roof down at Jack.

"It's nice up here! The roof's warm, and you can see for miles!" he called.

"Well, can't argue with that logic," Jack said calmly and sat back down with a "sorry, that's all I've got" shrug. Kimiko stared at him.

"You mean you're just going to leave him up there doing God-knows-what to the roof?" she asked in exasperation. Jack looked at her patiently.

"Well, if he's not hurting anything why make him come down? And it's not like we can make him anyway. You've never had to try and pry him off of something, have you?" Jack smiled slightly when Kimiko shook her head. "Trust me, you don't want to."

Kimiko sat down three feet away from him on the steps with a small, defeated sigh. All was quiet for a few minutes, during which Jack made an astounding effort not to look at her. He felt his palms starting to sweat. God, why did she have to be so pretty? It just wasn't fair, of all the unattainable women Jack had to like _Kimiko_.

"So, how do you know him?" she asked after the silence became unbearable. Jack shrugged.

"It was two years ago. Wuya stole the Monkey Staff from me so I went to go get it back."

"And you ran into Chaos?"

Jack winced. "More or less. He was home by himself and kinda pounced on me, so I had to convince him to let me up and _then_ I had to make him give me the Monkey Staff." Kimiko raised one slim eyebrow and Jack felt the hair stand up on the back of his neck. Why God why?

"You made him give it back?" Kimiko asked skeptically.

"He gave me a cookie!" Chaos put in. He was looking down at them, leaning precariously over the edge of the sloping temple roof.

"I bribed him," Jack confirmed. Kimiko scowled up at the boy on the roof.

"You'd better not knock any of the tiles off!" she warned. Chaos didn't reply, he just giggled and disappeared again.

Chaos was having a field day on the roof. He had never really been on a roof quite like this before. Almost all the ones at home had marble domes, never tiles, so they were nearly impossible to climb and there wasn't much to do once you got on top of them. This roof, however, was warm from the sun and not as tricky to keep your balance on, and Chaos took delight in seeing how many tiles he could jump over without slipping. It wasn't that he minded slipping, that was half the fun. And then he'd scramble back up to the top and look out over the hills again. Chaos marvelled at it all. He had never seen over the citadel walls before, and the world, he had concluded, was beautiful.

More than anything, though, Chaos was thinking. What was he going to do after this big mess was sorted out? He was sure that his father would want him to return home, but what would the boy say in his own defense? Chaos felt his insides squirm with guilt. Yes, he intended to tell his father everything he learned while staying with the Xiaolin Dragons, but he didn't want to go home to the locked doors again. He didn't want to return to the citadel, where you could only see the sky through a ring of jagged stone that was the mouth of the dead volcano. The thought rattled him as Chaos realized that he had never been this _free_ before. But just as quickly, he was confused by the idea. Being only six years old was a lot of hard work, Chaos just didn't have the attention span to think about one thing for too long. So, his mind wandered off to watching the hills and hills of grass and trees and wondering how they'd gotten there.

Chaos was happy.

* * *

Things are starting to move now! Yay! I also refuse to apologize to anybody who didn't like that little hinted bit of one-sided Jackim. Jack liking Kimiko is canonical, and I think it's rather cute anyway because he has virtually no chance. Oh, and the Western Dragons are cool. That's all I'm going to say. (wink) 


	8. Chapter Seven

Zita: Yeah, I couldn't resist adding a few young characters. They won't be terribly important, but they're fun little extras. And I apologize in advance for the way Klydiss talks, and my cliche'd other nationalities for the dragons. I kind of suck that way, feel free to whack me if I offend you. (wink)

* * *

CHAPTER SEVEN: 

Thirteen year old Rachelle wasn't happy. She was standing in the courtyard of the Western Xiaolin Temple, looking up at Geoffry. He had settled comfortably in the branches of a tree, listening to her CD player and making exagerated head banging movements. After a moment, he noticed that he was being glared at and smirked down at her.

"Nyeah nyeah, you can't catch me!" He blew a raspberry.

"Geoff, are you always such a _child_?" Rachelle scowled up at the boy in the tree, blowing a lock of blonde hair out of her pale blue eyes, "Give me back my CD player!"

The British boy pretended to consider it for a moment, furrowing his mouse-brown brows in mock thought. "Nah, I think I'll keep it!" Rachelle groaned. She was a pretty girl, a light French note to her voice and a slim figure. However, her temper was not to be tested.

"Geoffry, don't make me come up there!"

"I'd like to see you try!"

"Oh come off it Geoff, give the lass her player!" A third boy was in the courtyard now. He was a bit taller and thicker in build with curly red hair and a strong Irish accent.

"But _Logan_, I was just starting to have fun!" Geoffry whined. Logan and Rachelle exchanged a look, then both took offensive stances.

"Wind!"

"Earth!" Rachelle twisted the air, sending a sharp gust into the tree in an attempt to knock Geoffry down while Logan shook the ground beneath. It was too much to ask of the Dragon of Fire in training to hold on, and he fell out of the tree and landed on his backside with an undignified yelp.

"Yeesh, can you guys keep it down out here? I can't get any sleep!" complained Miguel, poking his head out of one of the oaken temple doors and rubbing one eye sleepily. Rachelle snorted.

"You're _still_ sleeping?"

The Dragon of Water nodded, then gave a stifled yawn. "_Si_, I was up late last night."

"Doing what?" Geoff scrambled to his feet with a curious look on his face. Logan rolled his eyes and punched his friend lightly on the shoulder. Geoff looked reproachful.

"What? Is it wrong to wonder what's up in the world of The Spaniard?"

"Don't call me that!" Miguel complained.

"Children, children!" a voice called from another doorway. Miguel grudgingly emerged from the door he had been standing in, still in his pajamas, to stand with the others.

"Yes, Master Sarkoth?" asked Geoff resignedly. Master Sarkoth was an older man, but he still stood tall and straight with wild-looking dark silver hair and a small goatee.

"My dear students, we have visitors at the front gate, and I would like you to see them. And Miguel, do change into something presentable." Sarkoth eyed his pale blue pajamas and the Spanish boy blushed furiously in embarassment. The other three followed Master Sarkoth while Miguel dashed off to change into the white training robes his friends wore.

* * *

The Western Xiaolin Temple was much different from the one the three dragons knew. It was more reminiscent of a medieval castle than anything else, complete with stone gargoyles perching on the roof with their faces twisted into grotesque snarls. It had a way of being dignifiedly creepy. 

"Where's this Master Sarkoth dude?" asked Raimundo, looking around.

"He should be here any moment now, Raimundo. He knew we were coming," said Master Fung calmly.

"How would he know?" asked Omi suspiciously.

"I have my ways." A man parted the thick oaken doors of the temple, each carved with the ornate figure of a rearing griffin, reminiscent of a knight's crest. He was and older fellow with dark silver hair and a goatee, dressed in a ceremonial looking white robe. He walked to them, a smile spreading across his thin face.

"I tohhhld himmm when I ssaawww you apprrrroacchhh, that isss how he knowsss," a slow, grating but feminine voice hissed. At the man's heels was what at first appeared to be a red lizard the size of a chicken. She was a small two-legged dragon, wings folded at the moment. She examined the strangers, green eyes narrowed.

"You lllottt arrre frrrommm Chiiinaaa. Wheerrreee isss Dojo? We haavvve not sssspokennn innn a grrreaattt ammounnnnttt offf timmme." The small dragon's voice was chillingly slow and hissing, like a snake. Her forked tongue flicked out also like a serpent's, tasting the air for the smell of the other dragon and not finding it.

"Master Sarkoth, Klydiss," Master Fung greeted the man and dragon with a small bow. "It has been far too long."

"Indeed it has, old friend. Klydiss, where are your manners?" Sarkoth rose from a bow of his own and looked down at the little red. She eyed the visitors briefly and with a slightly contemptuous air she gave a small, respectful head bob.

"I ammm Klydisss the Swiffffttt. I ammm guarrrdiannn of thisss templlle and havvve beennnn forrr the lasssttt thhreee thousssannnddd yeearrrsss." Omi, picking up on the formality, bowed as well.

"I am Omi, Xiaolin Dragon of Water," he answered. Raimundo bowed too, a bit more reluctantly but with due respect to the temple's master and dragon.

"Yeah, and I'm Raimundo the Dragon of Wind."

"Howdy, I'm Clay, Dragon of Earth." Clay took off his hat. Klydiss flicked her tongue and nodded.

"Therrre ssshhhhoulddd be a Drraggonnnn of Fffirrre?" she asked.

"Kimiko's not here, she had to stand guard," Raimundo said.

"Aaahh, thattt makesss sssennnssse. And wherrre is Dojo?"

"Dojo is shedding his skin," explained Omi. It was something the dragon did every few centuries, and to do it he locked himself up in a chamber for about a month. Dragons shedded their old skins in a state of hibernation, so he wouldn't have been able to fly them anywhere. He wasn't exactly "on vacation", as Clay had told Jack, but close enough.

"I unnnderrrssstannnddd, I grrreewww a neewww hiiiddde fivvve summmmerrrrssss ago. Forrrgivvve my inntrruuusssionnn." The dragoness then seemed to tire of talking to them and returned her attention to Master Fung and Sarkoth, who had also been talking. Master Fung had shown Sarkoth the scale fragments that Jack had found.

"We believe we are dealing with the black magics," he explained. Sarkoth examined the fragments, picking up one delicately between his fingers and scrutinizing it. The welcoming smile vanished from his face and he stroked his goatee nervously.

"I believe you are right. Klydiss told me she had sensed a power surge earlier, but it had been too brief for her to trace," he said. The little dragoness nipped his ankle lightly.

"Therrre is nottthhhinnnggg I cannnnottt trrraccce, ittt isss jusssttt not therre annymorrre," she growled, indignant. Sarkoth nodded and smiled patronizingly, patting Klydiss on the head. She looked as if she were considering biting him, but decided against it.

"Yes, yes, Klydiss. That will be enough. You are all welcome to the information in our archives, I am sure you will be able to find something of use-"

"Master Sarkoth, are we going to stand here all day?" a voice whined from a nearby doorway. A short, brownhaired boy was glaring out, looking reproachful and annoyed. Sarkoth looked around, annoyed at being cut off, then smiled.

"Ah yes, it appears my manners are lacking as well. Students, come out where we may see you!" Four children looking around twelve to fourteen years old came out of the temple, all wearing simple white training robes. The only girl was carrying a CD player.

"These are the dragons in training of the Western Temple," Sarkoth explained. "They are Geoffrey, Rachelle, Logan, and Miguel." Each child nodded at their name.

"Wait a minute, you mean there are more than four dragons?" asked Raimundo suddenly. Omi smiled.

"Raimundo and Clay, you do not read enough," he said.

* * *

Zita: One more to go! Please review! 


	9. Chapter Eight

CHAPTER EIGHT:

Neither set of Xiaolin Dragons quite knew what to think of the other. Master Fung seemed slightly irritated himself, and Klydiss's lip curled away from her tiny white teeth as if something was bothering her. She was looking at Master Sarkoth as if he had broken some unspoken rule, but he did not look back.

The first of the younger dragons, Geoffry, came forward without pause. He offered his hand to each of the visitors in turn to shake.

"Geoff, Dragon of Fire. Pleased to meet you," he said brightly. The other three took his lead and the introductions were brief. They also wondered where the fourth of the Eastern Dragons was, and that had to be explained a second time. Then everything went to awkward silence, neither party really knowing what to say to the other.

"Raimundo, Omi, Clay, we are going to the archives," called Master Fung after a few more moments of discussion with Sarkoth. The two masters were heading for one of the larger buildings within the temple walls.

"Master, should we come as well?" asked Rachelle.

"No, that is fine my students. Continue your training."

"But it's Saturday!" whined Geoff.

"Yeah, that's not right!" added Miguel.

"We have Saturdays free!" protested Logan. Sarkoth stopped and turned around.

"Indeed then, you are right. Carry on with what you were doing before!"

"Will do, sir!" cried Geoff cheerfully. With a devilish grin, he seized the CD player from Rachelle and set off at a run back through the temple with it, laughing. The other three gave chase, Rachelle in the lead screeching various minor epithets in French.

"That was weird," said Raimundo as he, Omi, and Clay followed the older men into the archives.

"Tell me 'bout it," muttered Clay.

The archive of the Western Xiaolin Temple was a large, circular building filled with shelves of books, scrolls, and papers. It was warm and dry, heavy with the smell of old wood and books that is to be expected of a well-aged library. A thick quiet lay over the building almost like its blanket of dust. It was the sort of place where you swore that, if you strained your ears enough, you could hear the soft whispers of written words calling from their leather bindings and scroll cases. Omi felt the hair stand up on the back of his neck. He had been in the archive of the Eastern Xiaolin Temple often enough, but this was different. Something in here felt _alive_.

"The information you're all looking for is deeper in, we do not venture this far into the archives often. As long as Klydiss or I am here, though, you have nothing to fear of the protection spells we keep," explained Master Sarkoth as they went.

"What sort of protection spells?" asked Omi, curious.

"Notthhhinnnggg toooo dannnggerrrousss, jusssttt minorrr sssspirrrritt guarrrrddsss and trappsss," Klydiss responded from her perch on Master Sarkoth's shoulder. She could turn her head about a full three-sixty on her long thin neck to look at Omi, and it was a little unsettling. Then the red looked upward suddenly, eyes focussing on something on the shelf. "Therrrre isss onnne abovvve yourrrr headdd, Earrrttthhh Drrraggonnnn," she added, a note of amusement in her hissing voice.

Clay jumped and looked to see a ghostly figure crawling along the edge of a bookshelf. It looked like a large gecko with long, thin limbs that looked would have fit better on a monkey than a lizard. It examined them all with cold yellow eyes, but upon seeing Sarkoth and Klydiss the spirit calmed and gave them all an approving nod. It then clambered up to the top of the shelf and, presumably, down the other side to check that row for intruders. It was enough to seriously creep you out. Klydiss chuckled, a rusty rattling noise deep in her throat, and turned to the front again.

Suddenly, there was a loud thumping noise on the roof.

"DAMN YOU GEOFF GET BACK HERE!" shouted a muffled voice girl's voice. There was a great scuffling of feet on the roof, apparently the four younger dragons were all up there. There was the distinct sound of Geoff laughing, then a loud thump followed by the ceiling groaning in strain.

"Logan, get off! It won't hold both of us here!"

"Then give it up!"

"Never! Rarr!" There was more thumping and scuffling.

"Hey, he bit me!" Logan shouted.

"Geoff, you know the rules! No biting, no scratching, no spitting!" called Miguel, from the sound of it he was a ways off from the other three. Master Sarkoth looked up at the ceiling, irritated.

"Klydiss, can you go tell them to get off-" He didn't get to finish the sentence. At that moment there was a particularly loud _thunk!,_ and Rachelle, Geoff, and Logan came crashing down through the ceiling. They all yelled in alarm, but in seconds Klydiss, with an annoyed hiss, had leapt into the air. The red dragoness suddenly was the size of a small building, carefully balancing so as not to topple any bookshelves, and caught the four children on her snout, glaring at them with cold green eyes. There was the sound of running and Miguel, the Dragon of Water, peered down through the fresh hole in the roof with a look that was a mixture of amusement and concern.

"You guys okay down there?!" he yelled.

"I think I've broken something," grumbled Geoff. Klydiss lowered her head and allowed the three to climb off of her face, then returned to her smaller size and leapt again to Master Sarkoth's shoulder. Rachelle, sweeping her now dusty hair out of her face with one narrow hand, marched purposefully over to Geoff, roughly seized her CD player in one hand, punched him with the other, and gave him a look that could have melted the ice caps. Geoffry just grinned innocently, managing not to wince at the blow. Sarkoth, on the other hand, looked positively livid.

"You lot, _all of you_," Sarkoth also looked up at Miguel, who quickly ducked out of view uncomfortably, "should be _ashamed_! Is this _any_ way to behave in front of our esteemed guests?" The three didn't meet his gaze. Geoffry finally plucked up the courage to say something smartassed though.

"She started it," he said, halfheartedly pointing at Rachelle.

"I do not care who started it, Geoffry. All I care is that it was done, and you all have brought disgrace to the temple," Sarkoth hissed, "Now get out of here, and find Miguel. I shall talk to all of you soon enough."

The three young dragons left with heads hung in shame and muttered "Yes, Master"s.

"Please excuse my students, they are still very young," sighed Sarkoth, instantly calm again. He turned to the bookshelves. "Yes, this is the section you want right here. Pardon me, I must go speak with the children." Sarkoth politely took his leave. Klydiss hopped down from his shoulder, apparently intending to stay with the guests. The little red waited until Sarkoth was gone, then sighed.

"I apolllogizzzee forrr the masstterrrr. Hee hass a ssshorrrttt temmmperrr wittthhh the younnnggglllinnnggsss, annnnddd I fffeaarrrr he hasss littttllle ressspeccttt forrr the olllddd waaayysss."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Raimundo suspiciously.

"Master Sarkoth should not have let the young dragons meet you, it will make them feel pressure in their training to accomplish more than they are able to," explained Master Fung. "He may even have hoped they would learn something from you, when he should know all too well what happens when the temples share their fighting styles."

"You're sayin' there were guys over here done with their trainin' before us? How's come we couldn't meet 'em?" asked Clay.

"Noooo, you lllottt arrre the firrsssttt drrraaggonns innn cccenntuuurrriesss. Besssidesss, the wayyysss offff the Easssttt and Wesssttt mussttt nottt blllennnddd. Nooowww commme, weeee musssttt finnnddd whaattt you caaammme forrr," Klydiss said firmly, ending the discussion. The visitors turned to the bookshelves and began to search.

* * *

Yay! That's all of it for now! You'll have to wait on my to finish Outpost Delta for any more, so until then... well, go find good things to read in the place of Chaos Reigns! (grin)  
-Your friendly neighborhood White Wolf Zita 


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